Circuit-controller for incandescent lamps and magnetic guide therefor.



No. 053,554. Patentad luly I0, I900.

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OIROUIT CONTROLLER FOR INOANDESOENT LAMPS AND MAGNETIC GUIDE THEREFOR.

(Application area A 22, 1899. Renewed m 25, 1900.

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEIC MARSHALL W. HANKS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, OF SAME PLACE.

CIRCUIT-CONTROLLER FOR INCANDESCENT LAMPS AND MAGNETIC GUIDE THEREFOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 653,554, dated July 10, 1900.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARSHALL W. HANKS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Circuit Controllers for Incandescent Lamps and Magnetic Guides Therefor, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the devices and apparatus employed in the operation of systems of electric lighting wherein glowers of rare earths or mixtures thereof are required to be artificially heated until they reach a degree of conductivity which adapts them to serve as illuminants for the lighting system. Ordinarily it is the practice to include in circuit with the glowers a solenoid or magnet and to arrange in parallel with the said circuit and in proximity to the glowers a heating device whose circuit is controlled by the said solenoid or magnet. Assuming that the circuit-controller for the heating-circuit is operated bya solenoid, it is customary to attach the movable portion of such circuit-controller to the core of the solenoid, whereby on the operation of the latter by means of a current sufficient to keep the glowers lighted the core is drawn upward and the heating-circuit thereby broken. For reducing the potential of the current utilized for operating the heating-circuit it has been common to insert therein a reactive coil or other inductive resistance, or, when a direct current is employed, an ohmic resistance. In some cases the electromotive force of the heater-current has been reduced by means of converters, the heaters being located in the low-potential secondary circuits of such converters.

The object of my invention is to provide a circuit-controlling device for lamps of this character, and which is also useful for other purposes, which shall be delicate and sensitive in its operation and free from noise even when operated with alternating currents and which will interrupt the circuit of the heater on both sides and in which the conductingplates shall be held in their proper relative positions without the aid 'of a mechanical guide.

Application filed April 22, 1899. Renewed May. 25, 1900; Serial No. 17,983. (No model.)

Where reactive coils or ohmic resistances are employed for insuring that the proper potential shall be applied to the heater, it is usually desirable to interrupt the circuit upon both sides of the heater, as otherwise a short .accompanying drawings, in which--- Figure 1 is a diagram of the circuits and apparatus forming the subject of the present invention and showing the switch or circuitcontroller connections in perspective; and Fig. 2 is a detail plan View of the solenoid, showing the magnetic device for preventing the turning of the circuit-controller.

In the drawings, A andB are electric-lighting mains, supplied from any suitable source of electric current.

0 0 represent glowers, of which there may be any desirable number. One end of each is connected to the main B. The remaining end of each of the glowers is connected to a corresponding coil d of the solenoid D, beyond which the coils unite and are joined to the return-circuit A. A parallel or derived circuit E includes a switch S, having insulated terminals 0 p q r and bridge-pieces s s, and it also includes a reactive coil F and a heater G, composed of suitable coils of wire of considerable electrical resistance. When the system begins to operate, the switch S is closed, the plates 0 19 being bridged by the piece 8 and the plates q r by the piece 5. Current cannot pass through the circuit of the glowers O O,because of the normally-nonconducting character of 'the glowers. The circuit E, however, is closed through the heater and the reactive coil F, the latter serving to reduce the potential applied to the heater G. The latter becoming heated raises the temperature of the glowers O C until they themselves have become comparatively-good conductors, and current thereupon traverses them. This current also passes through the coils d ofthe solenoid D,and the core H thereof is lifted. The core H carries a piece of hard rubber or other insulating material h, which forms an insulating-support for the conducting-bridges s and s. It follows, therefore, that the lifting of the core H breaks the heater-circuit on both sides thereof. Accordingly the heater ceases to operate, and the system is now in condition to continue its operation by virtue of the fact that the current initiated in the glowers will itself maintain the glowers at a sufficient temperature to keep them incandescent.

At the top of the bobbin on which the coils of the solenoid D are wound is a body of iron K, which may be formed so as to have inwardly-projecting poles at 70'. The end of the core 11 is flattened, as shown at h, so as to form an armature or bridge piece between the projections 7; and 7s. Whenever the said solenoid is energized, the core II will set itself with the projection h,bridging the space between the projecting poles 7c and 70 Fig. 2 illustrates this position of the core H with relation to the poles k 7.:, in which position the cores of the bridges s and s are directly over the terminals 0 13 and q 1', respectively. The upward movement of the core in response to an energizing of the solenoid-coils is thus unresisted by any mechanical fric-' tion, since the tendency of the core is to seek a central position inside of the coils and to maintain that position during the to-and-fro movement of the core. Being thus unresisted, the solenoid circuit-controller will operate noiselessly and with sensitiveness. The core H may be turned half-way around without interfering with its operation, and it is found in practice that if it is manually placed in a midway position it will be returned to its operative position by the poles k 7t.

Steadying resistance may or may not be placed, according to the circumstances, in circuit with the glowers. By the constructions and arrangements described it will be seen that I cause the solenoid-core to operate a double-pole circuit-controller for the heater-circuit and do this with a very small degree of mechanical resistance. So far as the action of the magnetic device upon the core is concerned this action would be identical if the switch operated by the core were a single-pole switch instead of a doublepole switch.

In some cases it may be desirable to replace the reactive coil by an ordinary ohmic resistance, or a converter may be introduced in place of either of these devices for reducing the action of the heater-current. The reactive device or a converter is to be used in connection with alternating currents, where as the ohmic resistance may be used with either continuous or alternating currents.

I claim as my invention 1. In an electric-lighting system, a glower which is normally a non-conductor but is adapted to become a com paratively-good cons ductor under the influence of heat, an electric heater in proximity to the said glower, and a solenoid in circuit with the said glower, the said solenoid controlling both sides of the heater-circuit.

2. In an electric-lighting system a glower which is normally a non-conductor but is adapted to become a com paratively-good conductor under the influence of heat, an electric heater in proximity to the said glower, a

solenoid in circuit with the said glower, and a double-pole switch in the heater-circuit, the core of the said solenoid being operatively connected with the said switch.

3. In an electric-lighting system a glower which is normally a non-conductor but is adapted to becomeacom paratively-good conductor under the influence of heat, an electric heater in proximity to the said glower, a solenoid in circuit with the said glower, acore for the said solenoid operatively connected with the circuit-controller for the heater-circuit, and a magnetic device energized by the said solenoid and adapted to maintain the core in a predetermined angular position within the solenoid.

4. In an electric-lighting system wherein glowers of rare earths or mixtures thereof are the incandescent bodies, a number of such glowers, a heater in proximity thereto and a reactive coil and a double-pole switch in circuit therewith, in combination with a solenoid or other electromagnetic device operatively connected with the said switch, whereby the danger of a short circuit between the glowers and the heater is obviated.

5. In an electric-lighting system wherein glowers of rare earths or mixtures thereof con stitute the incandescent bodies, a number of such glowers, a heater in proximity thereto supplied by a current of lower tension than that which operates the glowers,a switch in the heater-circuit, and a core or solenoid located in the glower-circuit, said switch operatively connected with and in combination with a fixed magnetic body having confronting polar projections directed toward the axis of the core, and corresponding polar faces upon the core.

6. The combination of a solenoid,acorelongitudinally movable therein, stationary magnetic pole-pieces projecting toward the core energized by currents traversing the solenoid, and corresponding pole-faces carried by the core.

7. The combination of a solenoid,a core longitudinally movable therein,stationary magnetic pole-pieces projecting toward the core, and corresponding pole-faces carried by the core.

Signed by me at East Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, this 18th day of April, 1899.

MARSHALL W. IIANKS.

Vt itnessesz WESLEY G. CARR, II. C. TENER. 

